People with Disabilities Invited to Participate in New Survey of User Needs for Wireless Technology

User feedback can help shape wireless device offerings.

Wireless Device Testing

A mobile device user with a visual impairment uses enlarged text on his smartphone screen. Photo Courtesy of Wireless RERC

Mobile Device Accessibility

Shepherd Center, Wireless RERC and AT&T hope to hold several seminars in spring 2015 to demonstrate accessibility features of mobile devices for people with disabilities. This spring they will include 10 cities and hope to reach more than 2,000 people. For more details, visit: wirelessrerc.org.

People with all types of disabilities are invited to participate in a new survey about their wireless technology use and opinions on device usability. The survey focuses mainly on mobile phones, but also includes questions about tablet computers, such as Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle Fire, Microsoft Surface, Samsung Galaxy Tab and others.

First launched in 2002, the SUN is the only national source of comprehensive information and insight into the wireless technology needs of people with disabilities. The wireless industry, regulatory agencies, advocacy organizations and other researchers use SUN data to develop new devices and services to meet the needs of people with disabilities. Since the survey’s inception, more than 6,000 people with disabilities have completed the SUN, and more than half have joined the National Consumer Advisory Network (CAN) to continue to provide their feedback.

To complete the survey over the phone, or to request a paper copy with a stamped return envelope, contact John Morris by email or at 404-367-1348.

About Shepherd Center

Shepherd Center, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is a private, not-for-profit hospital specializing in medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, spine and chronic pain, and other neuromuscular conditions. Founded in 1975, Shepherd Center is ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 10 rehabilitation hospitals in the nation. In its more than four decades, Shepherd Center has grown from a six-bed rehabilitation unit to a world-renowned, 152-bed hospital that treats more than 935 inpatients, 541 day program patients and more than 7,300 outpatients each year.